Last month, Maryland Governor Wes Moore announced the Chesapeake Bay Legacy Act as part of the Moore-Miller Administration’s legislative priorities for the 2025 General Assembly. This legislation builds upon the administration’s historic efforts to improve the Chesapeake Bay’s water quality, introduces comprehensive changes to support regenerative agriculture, and streamlines oyster aquaculture—providing new economic pathways for farmers, and uplifting critical Maryland industries.
“The Chesapeake Bay is one of our state’s most powerful vehicles for economic growth and a treasured heirloom that must be protected,” said Governor Moore. “I’m proud to introduce the Chesapeake Bay Legacy Act to help us execute a comprehensive strategy that uplifts every sector of our Bay economy from agriculture to aquaculture. Because prioritizing conservation and environmental protection isn’t just the responsible thing to do–it will also help us create jobs and build new pathways to work, wages, and wealth for all Marylanders.”
As part of stated agricultural reforms, the bill would enable the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to provide longer term public land leases for state agricultural land to farmers who build healthy soil through regenerative practices and traditions, which draw from indigenous and traditional land management practices to improve soil health, restore biodiversity, and mitigate climate change impacts. Long-term leases will ease barriers of entry for farmers interested in practicing regenerative techniques by providing them with access to acreage to grow their products sustainably.
To provide cleaner waterways and community benefits to local areas, the proposed legislation expands water quality monitoring in the state to help evaluate Chesapeake Bay restoration efforts. The expanded monitoring data can be used by the state to target pollution reduction practices to the places where the projects have the lowest cost and maximum benefit for improving water quality, while allowing Marylanders to better understand the water quality in their communities.
To support the growing aquaculture industry in the state, the bill would streamline the review process for aquaculture leases to promote efficiency and give leaseholders the ability to continue operations while they wait for permit renewals. The bill also empowers the Maryland Department of the Environment to authorize oyster restoration projects to be eligible for water quality trading credits to spur more oyster restoration work.
The bill outlines a number of other changes for Bay restoration, and you can read more about them at news.maryland.gov.